With Another Heisman Hopeful, Cal Hopes This Is No Case of Deja-Blue

LOS ANGELES -- The enthusiasm in Berkeley is muted because the California Golden Bears have been here before, possessing the opportunity to seize the Pac-10 crown from a vulnerable USC team, loaded with returning starters and gifted skill players, including a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.

It was 2006, and Marshawn Lynch was being billed as a Heisman candidate and the Bears were ready to unseat their hated rival from the south. Instead, they were blown out by Tennessee on national TV to open the season and then lost their Rose Bowl chance with a brutal loss at Arizona in November. Cal was relegated to the Holiday Bowl, and relegated once against to second-tier status in the college football landscape.

Jahvid Best is entering his junior season as perhaps the best returning tailback in the country. Cal took its lumps last season with a young receiving core and an unenviable situation at quarterback. But those issues have apparently dissipated in the offseason and the Bears are again ready for another run.

"The biggest thing we're going to have to do is execute," said Best, the nation's leading returning rusher at 1,580 yards. "When you look at the top teams in the country that consistently stay at the top level, they execute. I feel like that's something we need to work on as a team. We'll get over the hump if we execute."

The key for Cal is to avoid pitfalls in the schedule. Last year, the Bears were soundly beaten at Maryland and also dropped games at Oregon State and Arizona, diluting the importance of a late-season game at USC. This time, the Trojans come to Berkeley on Oct. 3, meaning the Bears' fate still could be determined four weeks before Halloween.

Any early-season trip-ups that have plagued the Bears in the past could prove fatal for their Rose Bowl hopes, and that is not lost on Best, who averaged a whopping 8.1 yards per carry as a sophomore.

"It's going to be a good thing for us, beating Maryland hopefully and get rolling by the time we get to [USC]," he said. " We should be rolling, playing at a good level. A lot of guys are coming back more confident. I am excited to see how we do in camp."

Kevin Riley entered fall camp as the starting quarterback after being unable to secure the position away from senior Nate Longshore last season. Coach Jeff Tedford never could decide on a permanent starter and it affected the team.

"As far as the running back is concerned, we really didn't get affected by the quarterback situation," Best said. "The receivers, some of them were telling me it was a little bit more difficult to get acclimated to one quarterback and then have the other one come it. That's a little less of a distraction for us."

Cal is ranked in the top 15 in many preseason polls, but college football pundits are waiting (and expecting) the Bears to eventually fall. That sentiment is not lost on Tedford.

"I think our program is at a point now where they learn how to handle that expectation," Tedford said. "It's not a big deal. We embrace it and we welcome it. I don't think there's any question that if we want to achieve our goal, we have to be more consistent in the passing game. Consistency at the quarterback position is really what we're looking for."

Best is the unquestioned leader of the offense and those lofty Heisman expectations are warranted given his performance in his first two years. But this may be his final season at Cal. Like Lynch before him, Best is considering entering the NFL draft following his junior season. Right now, however, leading Cal to its first Rose Bowl in 51 years is his foremost thought.

"I just kind of ignore [the Heisman hype]; I don't pay too much attention to it because then you'll start to feel satisfied as a player," he said. "Once you satisfied, that's when you stop getting better. So I just kind ignore it and realize that I still have work to do. I'll just take this season like a normal season and I'll play it and focus on the season. But when the season is over, I'll sit down and have a conversation with my mom and my parents and see what kind of options we have. But as of right now, I have no idea. It's definitely something to think about."